Masterwork Items for BG1 and BG2?

Boaster

These were items I first heard about when friends and I played Dragonlance a few years back... damn, 2007 is more than a few now... anyway...

Masterwork items simply have the +1 THAC0 bonus, because they were better crafted and came at a premium.

Then, I saw that Icewind Dale actually had Masterwork weapons in them as well.

I think masterwork items would be a nice intermediary between normal and magical weapons that could be utilized by both Monsters/NPCs and player characters.

For example, in BG1, Flaming Fists in the city of BG might be better equipped and have Long Sword Masterwork. Or Knoll Elites would actually be in possession of Halberd Masterwork to further differentiate that, "Hey, these guys are elites! They even have better weapons."

Agree if you'd also like to see Masterwork weapons!

Cheesebelly

Good idea! I loved those weapons in Icewind Dale, since they were better than normal, but they weren't magical yet. I don't see why we couldn't have them in Baldur's Gate as well, especially if they are more resilient to the poor iron of the Sword Coast during the iron crisis. (in other words - they don't break)

Winthal

for BG1 I actually like that the normal weapons break fairly easy, the iron shortage and tainted iron should really feel like a problem imo, not something you can just breeze past after 15 minutes of gameplay. Of course, when you know where the magical items are located, you barely notice this. For my first play through tho, I remember buying multiple weapons for my melee guys just in case something broke in the middle of a fight

I would love to see a kind of post apocalyptic mod for BG1 where the iron shortage really hits hard, and almost all magical items are removed (or at least moved to the very last chapters). Also make the economy a lot stricter so the player has to struggle for every scrap of gold. I find that settings like these give more value to the players efforts and a more unique feeling in the rare case that you do find a special item.

ajwz

I really like the idea of this - particularly in bg1 where that transition between normal and +1 weapons needs to be there because +1s are so powerful relatively speaking. Also as stated above, this did work well in IWD

lansounet

@Winthal That would be the Hard Times mod I think you're describing.

Agreed with this post, although it's already done by (several) mods turning +1 weapons into masterwork/fine weapons and an option to make them breakable too.

ElectricMonk

Although it is already done by a variety of mods, I do support the idea of implementing fine, masterwork, excellent, etc. levels of non-magical weapons as it adds a variety of weapons to the game somewhere between a normal weapon and a magical one. I would, however, like for them to be breakable as they are made with tainted iron and so should be breakable like the normal, non-magical weapons.

Boaster

jaysl659 said:

Although it is already done by a variety of mods, I do support the idea of implementing fine, masterwork, excellent, etc. levels of non-magical weapons as it adds a variety of weapons to the game somewhere between a normal weapon and a magical one. I would, however, like for them to be breakable as they are made with tainted iron and so should be breakable like the normal, non-magical weapons.

On top of that, then I suggest there be a scale of percentage of this happening on a magnified scale.

Presently, there's a 1/100 chance of a weapon breaking.

I agree that Masterworks too should be breakable, but on at a chance of 1/1000. This would mean altering the chance based system, by increasing the way things stand by a scale of 10, or would involve a 1% chance of casting a spell that would have a 1% chance of casting a spell that actually breaks the item. Spell stacking gets messy though.

Boaster

In what graphical manner will there be, or should there be, to differentiate between Normals, Masterwork and Magicals?

ajwz

Boaster said:

In what graphical manner will there be, or should there be, to differentiate between Normals, Masterwork and Magicals?

Well in IWD, masterwork items were greenified...

Boaster

ajwz said:

Boaster said:

In what graphical manner will there be, or should there be, to differentiate between Normals, Masterwork and Magicals?

Well in IWD, masterwork items were greenified...

Yes. They were. But was that because Icewind Dale was a game that emphasized cooled colors, since it was in a wintry setting?

scriver

@Boaster - 1/1000? That's just way too seldom, 1/200-400 something would be better. A part of me want them to break on the same rate, as they wouldn't be made of other material (or with different methods), it's just a matter of how well balanced they are and how easy they are to wield, but I guess breaking a bit slower would be nice from a game mechanic perspective.

As for the colouration, while ID went with green, I personally always thought that a bit aestethically weird and would rather have them go blue- or redish. I also believe mastercraft weapons had unique images in I'D, but I'm not sure about that one (I also only remember ever getting two weapons of the finest non-magical variety, so I'm bot sure it went for all weapons).

scriver

@Boaster - 1/1000? That's just way too seldom, 1/200-400 something would be better. A part of me want them to break on the same rate, as they wouldn't be made of other material (or with different methods), it's just a matter of how well balanced they are and how easy they are to wield, but I guess breaking a bit slower would be nice from a game mechanic perspective.

As for the colouration, while ID went with green, I personally always thought that a bit aestethically weird and would rather have them go blue- or redish. I also believe mastercraft weapons had unique images in I'D, but I'm not sure about that one (I also only remember ever getting two weapons of the finest non-magical variety, so I'm bot sure it went for all weapons).

Dazzu

I believe Icewind Dale even had MAGICAL Fine weapons: A +1 Fine Longsword with +2 THAC and +1 damage/enchantment.

That said, would masterwork weapons be breakable? Since this game has something the Icewind games didn't, would Masterwork/Fine Weapons be cursed by tainted Iron?